Chris O’Dowd is planning date nights with his wife to avoid turning into his new character.
The actor, 39, is back on TV tonight as a man getting marriage therapy.
And he admits he and wife Dawn O’Porter, 40, are losing their sense of romance after becoming parents.
So he is hoping date nights with her away from Arthur, four, and Valentine, two, will rekindle that early passion.
Chris said: “Our current situation is much less about the marriage and more about the parenting.
“Most of our energy is consumed through chasing and drawing.
“Now that we’re slightly out of the baby phase we’re going to try to take a night to ourselves once a month, stay somewhere, get into a hotel.”
Chris stars with Rosamund Pike in BBC2’s State of the Union, about a couple meeting in a pub once a week before a marriage therapy session. Its ten episodes are ten minutes long.
He should have no worries in real life as his philosophy on marriage is healthy. He said: “Marriage is more a journey than a destination. As long as you don’t get lost at the same time and one of you has your wits about you.”
However, he added with a laugh: “But I am certainly no expert on marriage so I don’t know I’m the right person to be spouting this.”
You would think your hubby working with a Bond girl like Rosamund, 40, would be tough for TV presenter Dawn. But Chris said it never arises.
He said: “Do you know what, I had forgotten she was a Bond girl but now I’m going to bring it up all the time.”
Both stars are already nominated for Emmy Awards for the series, as outstanding actor and actress in the short form comedy or drama series.
Chris said: “That’s cool. I wasn’t aware there was such a category.”
- State of the Union starts tonight, BBC2, double-billed at 10pm weekly.
